Science U
Animal Skulls
Season 3 Episode 3 | 1m 14sVideo has Closed Captions
Can you tell how closely related you are to some animal species by looking at skulls?
You might share some characteristics with a cousin such as eye color or height. Can you tell how closely related you are to some animal species by looking at their skulls? Try it!
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Science U is a local public television program presented by WPSU
Science U
Animal Skulls
Season 3 Episode 3 | 1m 14sVideo has Closed Captions
You might share some characteristics with a cousin such as eye color or height. Can you tell how closely related you are to some animal species by looking at their skulls? Try it!
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch Science U
Science U is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipMENTOR: When I say science, you say "U".
Science!
CHILDREN: U!
MENTOR: Science!
CHILDREN: U!
NARRATOR: Today the campers took a field trip to the Matson Museum of Anthropology, where the staff gave them a daunting challenge.
Camper: Here we have 15 animal skulls.
Look at each of them carefully, put them in order of which you think are most closely related to humans and which you think are more distantly related to humans.
Scientists agree that all life started with a single-celled organism, one common very tiny ancestor.
And then over 3.7 billion years or so they multiplied and changed into the huge variety of creatures we see today.
So how do we do this?
How do we figure out which animals are more closely related to us?
Scientists group animals by common traits, common observable features.
Like do they have jaws?
Or do they have fur?
Some had flat teeth for eating plants, some had eyes that could see in the dark, or teeth that could chew through bark.
Can you put them in order?
Try it yourself at science.
org.
- Science and Nature
Explore scientific discoveries on television's most acclaimed science documentary series.
- Science and Nature
Capturing the splendor of the natural world, from the African plains to the Antarctic ice.
Support for PBS provided by:
Science U is a local public television program presented by WPSU